


Avatar - A Different Hero

by meme_farmer



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Angst, Avatar Zuko - Freeform, Burns, But it gets better I promise, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Firebending & Firebenders, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Hope This Goes Well, I tried okay?, My First Work in This Fandom, Scars, Waterbending & Waterbenders, Woops, Zuko Angst, and his mom, au - aang died instead of freezing and now zuko is the avatar, azula is a jerk, but there are also the nice ones, but you know what i mean, dont kill me pls, dont leave i swear its not as bad as your thinking, he is very angsty, hurt zuko, i do have a plan for this fic im just bad at the sitting down and actually writing it part, i might include katara later idk, in fact, iroh was awesome, most people are jerks, my bean, my bean is sad, no promises though, poor Zuko, sad zuko, sadly i killed him, smol zuko, so i guess its kinda still his childhood, so is ozai, very sad, well technically he's only a smol teen in this fic, why do i do this to my characters, zuko's childhood sucked
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 22:43:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7776553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meme_farmer/pseuds/meme_farmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The people of the world were distraught, the avatar was their only hope at restoring balance to their war savaged world, but three avatars and 86 years had passed with no fully (or even partially) realized avatar to look to.</p><p>No one suspected the hero they were looking for was a young fire nation prince named Zuko.</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Or, the one where Aang died at the massacre instead of getting frozen, and since then the avatars have met early deaths. And then Zuko accidentally bends another element.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> Yo my dear readers,  
> please don't stop reading on account of the large amounts of angst?  
> I've read most the fics in the Avatar Zuko tag so this may draw inspiration from some of them, if you notice any copied ideas i probably didn't realise.  
> Idk where I am going with this honestly  
> I'll just stop now
> 
>  
> 
> bai

Screams echoed around airy halls and smoke rose in huge deadly plumes from burning buildings.  
Children cried as they clutched their parents lifeless forms, sky bison roared as the fire spread to them, Fire Nation soldiers marched everywhere and terrified air nomads scurried around their once peaceful home.

In the end the last inhabitants of the temple were but corpses, just as the people of their sister settlements were.

Thousands died that day, skeletons littered everywhere. One of those charred bodies was a boy, once known as Aang, the late avatar.

That painful day did however see new life, a small girl by the name of Quyina drew her first breath as her mother looked lovingly down at her.

This girl grew up in the southern water tribe, and for the first ten years of her life she was happy, but alas the world that she lived in was cruel and that happiness came to an end.

For the first time, a fire navy ship invaded her village and as a soldier approached her she grew panicked and sent the firebender flying backwards with a gust of air.

The frightened girl soon found herself in the hull of that ship, then before the Firelord in his court room.

After that, she knew nothing. Fire Nation doctors kept her alive, but unconscious with an ancient potion. She stayed like that for seventy five years, the doctors watched as her face matured and her hair grayed, until one day a man dressed all in black and drenched in blood put a dagger in her heart before he stabbed it through his own.

But in that instant, far away from all that violence, a baby was born in the city of Ba Sing Sae. This boy was named Lukin and was raised on the streets of the earth kingdom capital, joining the army when he was sixteen. His powers first showed themselves nearly a year later, in the from of accidentally firebending his earthbending master. But before masters could arrive to teach the child, he was killed by a fire nation assassin when he was on a routine patrol.

Needless to say the people of the world were distraught, the avatar was their only hope at restoring balance to their war savaged world, but three avatars and 86 years had passed with no fully, or even partially realized avatar to look to.

An organization that called themselves The Order Of The White Lotus banded soon after Lukin's death. They were a group of masters (bending masters, spiritual masters, combat masters, accomplished scholars and the like) sworn to seek out, teach and protect the avatar - to do their very best to end the war.

This organization was home to the wisest of the wise, yet not one of them suspected that the young avatar they had sworn to protect was a certain fire nation prince named Zuko.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zuko was a quiet child.

When he had first entered this world the sages had feared him mute and had prayed for three days straight before the young prince finally cried when his sister - princess Azula - set fire to his blanket.

Azula had been an exceptionally talented bender from even a young age, easily pushing her large amounts of anger and cruelty into fire and lightning. His mother had told him how the girl had always expected to beat him at everything, but it turns out she wasn't the only talented child.

Azula had been six, and he had been two when he first bended. Even Azula only made her first fire at the age of four so no one knew what to think when he accidentally set fire to his rug when he was sick with Swamp Flu.

His masters had been stunned when the surprisingly mature child had quickly caught up to his sister, and by the time he was five he had already surpassed his sister though she was nearly four years older. The prince also trained with weapons, namely dual swords and archery, though he always looked forward to his bending lessons more.

When Zuko was eight he was a firebending master in all but name, easily beating all his teachers when they sparred and angering his sister greatly.

When he would improve his bending, his mother had always told him she was proud of him, pulled her fingers through his shaggy hair and held him close, but that was when she was still alive. His father on the other hand was not so easily impressed.

The Firelord was not a kind man, so it was not surprising that he had never really shown his children any affection. Zuko knew that Azula didn't care - she took after her father in many ways - but it had always bothered him.

He remembered with a strange clarity what his father had told him when he asked him why he didn't like him. Any other man would have denied it, but the Firelord had just stood up straight and said "I don't like you because you are too soft Prince Zuko. A Firelord must make harsh decisions, he cannot doubt himself or his cause even for a minute, and he must always put our nation first. You are not ready to do any of those things."

But Zuko knew that his father didn't like him. Didn't like the way he refused to wear the traditional phoenix tail and wore his black hair long and shaggy, didn't like the way he couldn't see why the other elements were so bad and what made firebenders superior, didn't like the way he respected his uncle more than his own father. A part of Zuko always chided himself for being such a disappointment, but he always knew that no matter what he did he could never be like his father.

What did bother him however was his sister, he had the vaguest memories of her dangling a toy over his head as a baby, and he still kept the earth kingdom belt she had gifted him on his second birthday. He was sure she had cared for him, even a bit when he was younger - though looking at the older version of her you would never have been able to guess.

Growing up Azula had got increasingly cruel and manipulative, not to mention jealous of Zuko. At times it seemed that her only goal was to make her brothers life a misery - teasing him and taunting him, sometimes throwing in the odd attack. Due to their intensive training the siblings only had each other, family and servants for company, thus why the princess spent so much time aggravating him.

One time, when Zuko was nine years old Azula had taunted him about how he had never been invited to a council meeting before. He had asked his father and was allowed to attend a war meeting as long as he didn't speak out - but he found he couldn't just sit by while his elders sacrificed untrained boys as a strategy.  
His words were an outrage and his father decreed there be an Agni Kai - Zuko faced the general he had spoken against and stated that he was not afraid.

But when his father showed up on the battlefield to fight him he found that he was, he pleaded with Ozai not to make him fight his own father. But the Firelord did not care that his son wouldn't fight back, he marched up to his nine year old son and burnt his eye, damaging the skin around it beyond repair. Finding that his son was still standing he held Zuko's wrists and left a flame patterned scar all up his arms.

The shocked crowd didn't make a sound as the Firelord walked away, expressionless, from the prince he had made scream but seconds ago.

When the boy came to, around half an hour later, he was still lying in the same spot, no healer had tended to him. Tears stinging his eyes, he stumbled to the turtleduck pond he used to visit with his mother.  
He collapsed by the waters edge and wept for his lost honor, for his probably unsalvageable left eye, for the boy soldiers of the untrained legion he had failed, for his dead mother and for his own weakness.

But as he despaired, he found the pain in his arms fade away. Wiping his tears, his eyes went wide as he saw glowing water travel from the pond up his arm, healing his pain and soothing his scarred flesh. He found could feel the water around him, just as he could sense the flames from his meditation candles, and he reached out for a ball of water from the pond with his mind, and lifted his hands. The water that rose formed a perfect sphere, and started to glow when Zuko pressed it against his eye wound. The trembling child found he could see out of his left eye again, and the pain was all but gone, yet Zuko was no fool - he knew what this meant - so he shook in fear all the same.

He couldn't be the avatar. That would be treason. He couldn't be the avatar. Could he?

The boy sprang to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes. He put on that expressionless mask he always wore around basically everyone who wasn't his uncle or his sister when she struck a nerve.

He headed straight for his uncle's room, not even waiting for an answer to his knock before pushing open the door.  
His uncle clutched at him and cried about how sorry he was and how he wasn't allowed to get him a healer before he noticed the scars looked weeks old. Zuko asked if there were any waterbender marriages in the bloodline in the last few decades. When his uncle confirmed that there were none, he sank to his knees for he knew his life had changed more than he could ever have expected.

Only a few hours later a certain nine year old and his uncle can be seen in peasant garb, sneaking through the streets - the younger shouldering a bag holding his textbooks for the next five years and his uncle's collection of bending scrolls from all four nations. Unfortunately they can also be seen by the royal guards who then circle them, and a nervous but smug servant confirming that that was indeed the prince he saw waterbending. But just as the two firebenders take defensive stances a pink blur comes up behind them and gives them both a series of quick chi-blocking punches to the back, distracting them for the second it takes for the guards to bind them and shove them in a prison wagon.

Soon after, the child's screams of grief could be heard as the boy was thrown in his cell, mind still haunted by the image of his father's twinkling eyes as he stabbed his smiling uncle.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *sings* angsty angst angst angsty angstingtons angst angastybob

_He_ _sat_ _by_   _the_   _turtleduck_ _pond_ _,_ _the_ _waterlilies_ _sat_ _silent_ _and_ _motionless_ _on_ _the_ _surface_ _._ _His_ _mother_ _beside_ _him_ _,_ _a_ _calming_ _presence_ _._

 _She_ _spoke_ _,_ _soft_ _voice_ _comforting_ _"_ _How_ _do_ _you_ _feel_ _?"_

 _"_ _I'm_ _fine_ _."_ _He_ _replied_ _with_ _a_ _heavy_ _heart_ _._

 _"_ _I_ _meant_ _how_ _do_ _you_ _feel_ _about_ _how you_ _killed_ _your_ _own_ _mother_ _?"_

 _He_ _sprang_ _to_ _his_ _feet_ _,_ _staring_ _aghast_ _at_ _the_ _woman_ _. Those_ _weren't_ _his_ _mothers_ _words,_ _those_ _were_ _his_ _sisters_ _words_ _._ _His_ _sisters_ _words_ _from_ _a_ _memory_ _,_ _right_ _after_ _**that**_ _night_ _._ _She'd_ _come_ _and_ _teased_ _him_ _,_ _not_ _even_ _seeming_ _upset_ _,_ _but_ _why_ _did_ _she_ _look_ _like_ _mother_ _?_ _Why_ _did_ _she_ _sound_ _like_ _his_ _mother_ _?_  
_"_ _W-W-Who_ _are_ _you_ _?"_

 _"_ _Don't_ _you_ _recognise_ _me_ _Zuko_ _?_ _I'm_ _your_ _mother_ _,_ _the_ _one_ _you_ _killed_ _."_ _She_ _gave_ _him_ _a_ _sickeningly_ _sweet_ _smile_ _and_ _his_ _breathing_ _sped_ _up_ _._

 _"_ _N-No_ _your_ _not_ _._ _And_ _it_ _..._ _It_ _was_ _an_ _accident_ _."_

 _And_ _then_ _she_ _was_ _grinning_ _,_ _grinning_ _as_ _blood_ _dripped_ _from_ _her_ _eyes_ _. "_ _An_ _accident_ _?_ _Well_ _I'm_ _dead_ _anyway_ _. W_ _hat_ _does_ _it_ _matter?"_

 _Pale_ _and_ _sweaty_ _he_ _felt_ _the_ _first_ _tear_ _form_ _,_ _it_ _fell_ _to_ _the_ _grass_ _beneath_ _it_ _and_ _turned_ _it_ _black_ _. "_ _M-Mom_ _?_ _Mom_ _I'm_ _so_ _sorry_ _I-I_ _didn't_ _mean_ _to_ _I_ _swear_ _!"_

 _Her_ _blood_ _was_ _everywhere_ _,_ _it_ _turned_ _the_ _pond_ _red_ _and_ _oh_ _God_ _it_ _was_ _all_ _over_ _his_ _hands_ _what_ _had_ _he_ _done_ _,_ _oh_ _god_ _what_ _had_ _he_ _done_ _!_  
_She_ _cackled_ _and_ _her_ _empty_ _eyes_ _twinkled_ _with_ _disappointment_ _. "_ _Oh_ _dear_ _,_ _did_ _you_ _think_ _I_ _would_ _forgive_ _you_ _?_ _You_ _KILLED_ _ME_ _!"_ _She_ _was_ _screeching_ _now_ _,_ _he_ _clamped_ _his_ _hands_ _over_ _his_ _ears_ _. "_ _How_ _could_ _I_ _forgive_ _you_ _when_ _you_ _KILLED_ _me_ _and_ _DISHONORED_ _our_ _country_ _?_ _You're_ _nothing_ _but_ _a_ _DISAPPOINTMENT_ _!"_

 _Blood_ _dripped_ _into_ _his_ _ears_ _and_ _the_ _grass_ _had_ _gone_ _black_ _,_ _the_ _pond_ _was_ _red_ _and_ _the_ _sky_ _was_ _a_ _void_ _._ _She_ _laughed_ _as_ _blood_ _streamed_ _down_ _her_ _face_ _and_ _Zuko_ _cried_ _out_ _in_ _anguish_ _._

 _He_ _had_ _to_ _get_ _away_ _,_ _he_ _had_ _to_ _,_ _he_ _was_ _running_ _,_ _he_ _didn't_ _know_ _where_ _,_ _down_ _an_ _endless_ _path_ _and_ _it_ _was_ _crumbling_ _behind_ _him_ _._

 _He_ _looked_ _back_ _to_ _see_ _his_ _mother_ _drop_ _to_ _the_ _ground_ _,_ _life_ _draining_ _from_ _her_ _eyes_ _just_ _like_ _his_ _uncle's_ _._

 _His_ _eyes_ _went_ _wide_ _as_ _his_ _feet_ _slipped_ _from_ _beneath_ _him_ _and_ _he_ _screamed_ _as_ _blackness_ _swallowed_ _him_ _..._

 _..._ Zuko bolted upright as he gasped for breath.  
A nightmare. Just a nightmare. That was all it had been.

Knowing sleep was impossible he pushed the itchy blanket off and settled into an airbender meditation position, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

Nightmares were no stranger to Zuko, after living in a prison cell with next to no human contact for four and a half years you get used to them. Nearly every night he would wake up covered in a cold sweat with a scream in his throat, whether it was about his uncle, his mother, his sister or his father he barely ever had the luxury of a dreamless sleep.

Waking to see the dirty grey wall of his cell was a welcome sight compared to his bloody dreams, but he longed for the colour of the outside world. When he was shoved the small room, he only just managed to trade his gold and ruby hair pin for his bag of books and clothes before the great iron door was locked behind him. Since then he hasn't talked to anyone at all, his only way to keep track of time was the daily food and water that was pushed through a little metal door every morning.

His bag had contained textbooks and worksheets, along with the stationary he'd need for his education for five years (though with limited activities he'd managed to complete them in half a year less), but more importantly he'd packed his uncle's collection of bending scrolls.  
His uncle had acquired a large selection of scrolls from each nation, so Zuko was able to learn some of the basic water, earth and airbending katas, though earthbending in particular was hard to do with his lack of resources. He could use the air in his cell, he could make fire and could use his drinking water for three of the four elements, but he had no way of accessing earth from his prison as it was made entirely of metal.

Sighing, the weary thirteen year old got to his feet and slid off his shirt, standing in the middle of his cell in only his underwear, and baggy maroon pants. His feet moved into a firebender stance almost automatically, and he started his morning routine of firebending moves, careful to avoid setting anything on fire.

The only things in his room were of course his straw bed and its woollen covers, a bucket to relieve himself in that he exchanged for a clean one at the same time he received his food for the day. He also had his books, his scrolls and his old clothes, though the only thing that was his current size were his baggy trousers that used to be his cousin's and a shirt that had once fitted him as a tunic.

Finishing his firebending routine he took a new stance and started to bend the element that he had grasped the fastest after fire, air. Though he only new a few katas, he had learnt enough to include in his routine.

There wasn't much to do in his cell, but he tried his best to keep busy, if only to chase away his thoughts. Every day he would wake up, meditate, practice his bending moves, eat, study, eat, exercise till he couldn't anymore, eat and then fall into a fitful sleep. Then repeat. For years, and for all he knew the rest of his life. His entire right wall was filled with tally marks that represented the days he had spent under the ground in this cage, he scratched them in with his spare quill every night before he slept.

Changing stances again he lifted the water from the bottle in the corner and lunged into waterbending moves. He always saved a bit of his drinking water for his morning routine and drank it afterwards before receiving more with his food.

After he put the water back into the bottle, he slipped into his last few katas, making the earthbending movements though he couldn't actually bend anything. He had known the feel of firebending since he was two, and the familiar rush of fire through his veins was comforting. Airbending made him feel airy and loose, like he was as light as a feather. When waterbending, he felt acutely aware of everything around him, his veins felt tingly and his movements fluid - but due to his lack of resources, he had no idea what it felt like to earthbend.

He brought his feet together and stood up straight before putting his fist against his palm and bowing his head in the traditional fire nation show of respect. Then, routine finished, he fell backwards onto his bed. Bending the his sweat into the bucket he gulped down the remains of yesterdays water before closing his eyes in exhaustion.

His lips curled upwards as he imagined his mother beside him, stroking his hair and praising him for his effort. He remembered his uncle's kind voice as he told his nephew how proud he was of the excellent bender he'd become.

He remembered his Father's cruel stare as he regarded his son with disappointed eyes. He remembered his sister's hateful glare as she zapped her two year old brother with lightning, her spiteful words after their mother's death, her mocking smile as his uncle's blood pooled on the floor.

Haunted eyes snapping open again, he sprang to his feet and settled into his firebender stance once again - better to train then to reminisce, not that it really mattered anyway.

Halfway through an airbending kata he heard keys turn in a lock and the metal hatch on his door scraped open. A plate with stale bread, some odd looking cheese and a bowl of watery brown broth were carelessly pushed through followed by a largish water bottle. Pausing his routine, Zuko hurriedly moved the bundle of food to the side and passed through his dingy bucket, receiving an empty one in return.

He heard the grating sound of metal on metal as the hatch closed, and he placed the food on his bed. He put the cheese and bread away for later and brought the first mouthful of soup up to his mouth with waterbending (for lack of a spoon) deciding to eat the broth while it was hot. _Scratch_ _that_ _,_ he thought as he swallowed the bland liquid ' _while_ _it_ _was_ _lukewarm'_ _is_ _more_ _accurate_ _._

He nearly dropped the fourth mouthful when he heard the shouts from the hall beyond his cell, because the only sounds he ever heard from outside were the faint footsteps of whoever it was who brought him his meals and the grating of the hatch. He assumed it was because he was on the lowest level, the secret one that was sealed off from all the others. So the panicked shouting he could hear was unusual to say the least.

Zuko had a feeling something big was going to happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, the door fell at his feet.


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the 3 main OCs:  
> wise rol  
> bitter rol  
> mother rol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw I drew the OCs and lil zuko so ya'll could see what they looked like (also saves time on the descriptions)  
> unfortunatley im not the best artist by a long long way, so the drawings are kinda crappy, but at least you'll have an idea  
> http://parasiticfanfic.tumblr.com/image/148979535915 - smol zuko  
> http://parasiticfanfic.tumblr.com/post/149922503630 - OCs

Master Yasuto stroked his long beard as he sat on his speeding sky bison, the other men around him bearing worried expressions similar to his own.

They were headed towards The Boiling Rock, a high security Fire Nation prison surrounded by boiling water. Why were they headed there? Well, a little over a week ago, one of their operatives had captured the recently retired chief guard of the prison. According to the hastily written letter he had received, there was a few cells located deep underground, where the most feared prisoners were kept, and only the chief guard had access to them. The guard didn't see the person who was in there but he was told that they were the Avatar, and not to let them out of that cell for any reason - his job was to bring the prisoner food every day and not ask questions.

Naturally, as soon as The Oder Of The White Lotus heard they sent for Yasuto to fly on Tobu (his sky bison) to their headquarters on an island just a half a day away from Kyoshi. There he picked up his two companions - the master earthbender Chiriku and the master waterbender Tomokai - before heading directly to The Boiling Rock.

When he arrived at the order's headquarters, he had witnessed his companions reactions to the news in person, the news that the avatar had been located, and they were supposed to be his or her's teacher. All three of them had reacted differently though.

Yasuto was worried. He didn't know much about the young avatar apart from his age and location. The last avatar was assassinated thirteen and a half years ago, so therefor the child was barely a teenager - and Yasuto couldn't imagine what being held in an underground prison with no human contact for months would do to a young teen. The guard hadn't mentioned how long the child had been imprisoned but as the powers of an avatar usually show themselves after the age of twelve it couldn't have been more than a year and a half. Yasuto shuddered at the thought of the worlds biggest hope at balance being isolated underground for more than a year. He couldn't imagine what that would do to the thirteen year old, a prison was really no place for a child.

Chiriku seemed to think that too, yelling about how no kid should go through that and how he couldn't understand the cruelty of the fire nation. The master earthbender had been fuming all the way through their journey, and Yasuto knew that he would inevitably smother the avatar in the kind of affection that only a mother (and Chiriku evidently) could give. The man was full of a protective anger like no other, the emotion that inspired him to master his element in the first place. To Yasuto, this was what made him so trustworthy, but to anyone who threatened the people he held dear, Chiriku was a force to be reckoned with. And seeing his growing attachment to the boy he had not even learnt the name of, the old airbender nearly pitied the officers of The Boiling Rock.

On the other hand, Tomokai didn't seemed to bothered with the boy's emotional well being, but he was clearly afraid that the avatar wouldn't be in a position to fulfill the role he was destined for. When he had first heard he immediately asked whether the child had any experience in bending at all, and looked exasperated when he was told they didn't know. He was not worried for the child, but for the avatar. The waterbender was much harder to figure out than the brash earthbender he was currently sat beside, so Yasuto couldn't figure out exactly what he was feeling. However, what he could tell was that Tomokai wanted what was best for whoever sat alone in that prison cell, and that was good enough for now.

The master airbender was shaken from his thoughts as Chiriku jumped to his feet, followed by the waterbender beside him. When Yasuto did the same, he saw what they were staring at, and instantly airbended a cloud around them so they wouldn't be spotted.

No more than five minutes later, the three men silently landed on the island known as The Boiling Rock.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chiriku was angry.

_Very_ angry.

But who wouldn't be? They'd imprisoned a child for gods sake! A child! A thirteen year old child!

The poor kid had most likely been torn away from their parents and thrown in a cell several miles underground, just thinking about it made him want to bury every single last one of those fire nation guards. But they didn't have time for that, their mission was to get the avatar out of that place as soon as possible and he was  _not_ going to mess this one up.

When his bare feet made contact with the cracking earth beneath him he was filled with that odd rush of power mixed with steadfast determination he always got from the ground. Not wasting a second, he took his stance and dived headfirst into the dirt, hands in front of him like a drill. When he closed his eyes he could feel the prison walls close and cold, but he could also feel the thick metal of the furthermost cells. They were deep down, but he could get to them without too much bother.

Soon enough, he was tearing at the metal walls of the corridor outside the cells, strong hands grabbing handfuls of hard iron and tearing it out. Metalbending was a skill he'd acquired by hard work and perseverance, one that even he had had trouble with for a while, but now he could use it without thinking.

When he got into the grimy corridor, once again he closed his eyes against the flickering light of the brazier on the wall and sought out the vibrations that would tell him where to find the young avatar. Finding that out of the three cells on this level, only the left one was occupied, he strode towards it and sunk his fingers into the door. The metal was thick and heavy, it would take at least three men to move it normally. But Chiriku was not called a master earthbender for nothing, he backed up a few paces before taking a run up to a kick that effectively knocked down the door.

After a second, a fire illuminated the cell that had been revealed, the orange flame resting in the palm of the small child that stood before him.

Chiriku had been angry before.

Now, he was _furious_.

The boy was skinny, almost worryingly so. And seemingly he had been living in this prison for weeks, (maybe months, god forbid a year.) But what was most alarming was the angry red burn scars the child bore all down his arms, and over his left eye.

How could _anyone_ do that to one of their own, let alone a  _kid_ _?_

Realizing the boy looked positively petrified, his lips curled into a slight grin that was meant to calm him, but instead the child's eyes widened and he took a step back. Knowing he had to get the kid out as soon as possible, Chiriku spoke to him as gently as he could, but his voice still seemed foreign in the heavy atmosphere.

"Um.. I am Master Chiriku..." He coughed awkwardly, before deciding to forget the formalities. "Ah screw it, I'm here to get you out of this shithole, kid, so pack your stuff and lets get moving; my friends are waiting upstairs."

The boy looked startled for a full ten seconds longer before something flashed in his eyes and he scurried about stuffing a few things into a bag that looked about as worn as Master Yasuto. Once the boy stood in front of the earthbender once again, the latter arched an eyebrow at the child before leading the way back to the tunnel he had made through the ground.

Taking his stance, he moved the earth beneath them like a conveyor belt, and the kid obediently made a hand fire to let them see where they were going. When he closed his eyes he noted that the boy's heartbeat was racing but that was to be expected, he could only imagine what it must be like to be alone in that cold, dark cell for all those weeks - then to suddenly be spirited away by a brash stranger.

Pretty quickly, they emerged into the humid air outside, the child immediately shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight he hadn't felt in god knows how long. Only moments later Tomokai appeared from around a corner just as Yasuto landed his bison beside them. Herding the dazed (and scared) looking avatar onto Tobu's back, Chiriku and the insufferable waterbender beside him climbed onto the beast's back, and Yasuto took off with a quick tap to the head.

As The Boiling Rock got smaller and smaller, rapidly fading into the misty distance, Chiriku felt single-minded determination settle inside of him.

The terrified eyes, the flame-patterned scars, the earthbender knew that no matter what he was going to care for this child, council and elders be damned.

He would fix the avatar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh i suck at updating


End file.
